Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and Yahweh his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly.

Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every prince in all Israel, the heads of the fathers' [houses].

So Solomon, and all the assembly with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the Tent of Meeting of God, which Moses the servant of Yahweh had made in the wilderness.

But David had brought the ark of God up from Kiriath Jearim to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem.

Moreover the bronze altar, that Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of Yahweh: and Solomon and the assembly were seeking counsel there.

Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before Yahweh, which was at the Tent of Meeting, and offered one thousand burnt offerings on it.

Now, Yahweh God, let your promise to David my father be established; for you have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude.

God said to Solomon, "Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked riches, wealth, or honor, nor the life of those who hate you, neither yet have asked long life; but have asked wisdom and knowledge for yourself, that you may judge my people, over whom I have made you king:

wisdom and knowledge is granted to you. I will give you riches, wealth, and honor, such as none of the kings have had who have been before you; neither shall there any after you have the like."

So Solomon came from the high place that was at Gibeon, from before the Tent of Meeting, to Jerusalem; and he reigned over Israel.

The horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt and from Kue; the king's merchants purchased them from Kue.

They brought up and brought out of Egypt a chariot for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for one hundred fifty: and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means.

Now Solomon purposed to build a house for the name of Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.

Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre, saying, "As you dealt with David my father, and sent him cedars to build him a house in which to dwell, [even so deal with me].

Behold, I am about to build a house for the name of Yahweh my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him incense of sweet spices, and for the continual show bread, and for the burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the set feasts of Yahweh our God. This is [an ordinance] forever to Israel.

But who is able to build him a house, since heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain him? who am I then, that I should build him a house, except just to burn incense before him?

"Now therefore send me a man skillful to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and who knows how to engrave [all kinds of] engravings, [to be] with the skillful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide.

"Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon; for I know that your servants know how to cut timber in Lebanon: and behold, my servants shall be with your servants,

Behold, I will give to your servants, the cutters who cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil."

Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing, which he sent to Solomon, "Because Yahweh loves his people, he has made you king over them."

Huram continued, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who has given to David the king a wise son, endowed with discretion and understanding, that should build a house for Yahweh, and a house for his kingdom.

Now I have sent a skillful man, endowed with understanding, of Huram my father's,

the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan; and his father was a man of Tyre, skillful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson, also to engrave any kind of engraving, and to devise any device; that there may be a place appointed to him with your skillful men, and with the skillful men of my lord David your father.

"Now therefore the wheat and the barley, the oil and the wine, which my lord has spoken of, let him send to his servants:

and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as you shall need; and we will bring it to you in floats by sea to Joppa; and you shall carry it up to Jerusalem."

Solomon numbered all the foreigners who were in the land of Israel, after the numbering with which David his father had numbered them; and they were found one hundred fifty-three thousand six hundred.

He set seventy thousand of them to bear burdens, and eighty thousand who were stone cutters in the mountains, and three thousand six hundred overseers to set the people at work.

Then Solomon began to build the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where [Yahweh] appeared to David his father, which he prepared in the place that David had appointed, in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

He began to build in the second [day] of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

Now these are the foundations which Solomon laid for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was sixty cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits.

The porch that was before [the house], its length, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the height one hundred twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.

He garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim.

He made the most holy house: its length, according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits; and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents.

The weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. He overlaid the upper rooms with gold.

In the most holy house he made two cherubim of image work; and they overlaid them with gold.

The wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: the wing of the one [cherub] was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was [likewise] five cubits, reaching to the wing of the other cherub.

The wing of the other cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the house; and the other wing was five cubits [also], joining to the wing of the other cherub.

The wings of these cherubim spread themselves forth twenty cubits: and they stood on their feet, and their faces were toward the house.

He made the veil of blue, and purple, and crimson, and fine linen, and ornamented it with cherubim.

Also he made before the house two pillars of thirty-five cubits high, and the capital that was on the top of each of them was five cubits.

He made chains in the oracle, and put [them] on the tops of the pillars; and he made one hundred pomegranates, and put them on the chains.

He set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand, and the other on the left; and called the name of that on the right hand Jachin, and the name of that on the left Boaz.

Then he made an altar of brass, twenty cubits its length, and twenty cubits its breadth, and ten cubits its height.

Also he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass; and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits encircled it.

Under it was the likeness of oxen, which encircled it, for ten cubits, encircling the sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast when it was cast.

It was a handbreadth thick; and its brim was worked like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it received and held three thousand baths.

He made the ten lampstands of gold according to the ordinance concerning them; and he set them in the temple, five on the right hand, and five on the left.

He made also ten tables, and placed them in the temple, five on the right side, and five on the left. He made one hundred basins of gold.

Furthermore he made the court of the priests, and the great court, and doors for the court, and overlaid the doors of them with brass.

He set the sea on the right side [of the house] eastward, toward the south.

Huram made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins. So Huram made an end of doing the work that he did for king Solomon in the house of God:

the two pillars, and the bowls, and the two capitals which were on the top of the pillars, and the two networks to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the top of the pillars,

and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks; two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals that were on the pillars.

The pots also, and the shovels, and the forks, and all its vessels, did Huram his father make for king Solomon for the house of Yahweh of bright brass.

In the plain of the Jordan did the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zeredah.

Thus Solomon made all these vessels in great abundance: for the weight of the brass could not be found out.

Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of God, the golden altar also, and the tables with the show bread on them;

and the lampstands with their lamps, to burn according to the ordinance before the oracle, of pure gold;

and the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs, of gold, and that perfect gold;

and the snuffers, and the basins, and the spoons, and the fire pans, of pure gold: and as for the entry of the house, the inner doors of it for the most holy place, and the doors of the main hall of the temple were of gold.

Thus all the work that Solomon did for the house of Yahweh was finished. Solomon brought in the things that David his father had dedicated, even the silver, and the gold, and all the vessels, and put them in the treasuries of the house of God.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' [houses] of the children of Israel, to Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the city of David, which is Zion.

And all the men of Israel assembled themselves to the king at the feast, which was [in] the seventh month.

All the elders of Israel came: and the Levites took up the ark;

and they brought up the ark, and the Tent of Meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; these did the priests the Levites bring up.

King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled to him, were before the ark, sacrificing sheep and cattle, that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.

The priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Yahweh to its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.

For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above.

The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the ark before the oracle; but they were not seen outside: and there it is to this day.

There was nothing in the ark except the two tables which Moses put [there] at Horeb, when Yahweh made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt.

It happened, when the priests were come out of the holy place, (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, and did not keep their divisions;

also the Levites who were the singers, all of them, even Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps, stood at the east end of the altar, and with them one hundred twenty priests sounding with trumpets;)

it happened, when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking Yahweh; and when they lifted up their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised Yahweh, [saying], "For he is good; for his loving kindness endures forever!" that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of Yahweh,

so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of Yahweh filled the house of God.

But I have built you a house of habitation, and a place for you to dwell in forever."

The king turned his face, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: and all the assembly of Israel stood.

He said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to David my father, and has with his hands fulfilled it, saying,

'Since the day that I brought forth my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house in, that my name might be there; neither chose I any man to be prince over my people Israel:

Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

nevertheless you shall not build the house; but your son who shall come forth out of your body, he shall build the house for my name.'

"Yahweh has performed his word that he spoke; for I have risen up in the place of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahweh promised, and have built the house for the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel.

There I have set the ark, in which is the covenant of Yahweh, which he made with the children of Israel."

He stood before the altar of Yahweh in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands

(for Solomon had made a bronze scaffold, five cubits long, and five cubits broad, and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and on it he stood, and kneeled down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;)

and he said, "Yahweh, the God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven, or on earth; you who keep covenant and loving kindness with your servants, who walk before you with all their heart;

"Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, keep with your servant David my father that which you have promised him, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children take heed to their way, to walk in my law as you have walked before me.'

Now therefore, Yahweh, the God of Israel, let your word be verified, which you spoke to your servant David.

"But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can't contain you; how much less this house which I have built!

Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you;

Listen to the petitions of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: yes, hear from your dwelling place, even from heaven; and when you hear, forgive.

"If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house;

"If your people Israel be struck down before the enemy, because they have sinned against you, and shall turn again and confess your name, and pray and make supplication before you in this house;

then hear from heaven, and forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them again to the land which you gave to them and to their fathers.

"When the sky is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you; if they pray toward this place, and confess your name, and turn from their sin, when you afflict them:

then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of your servants, and of your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on your land, which you have given to your people for an inheritance.

"If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or caterpillar; if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is;

then hear from heaven, your dwelling place and forgive, and render to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know; (for you, even you only, know the hearts of the children of men;)

"Moreover concerning the foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, when he shall come from a far country for your great name's sake, and your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm; when they shall come and pray toward this house:

then hear from heaven, even from your dwelling place, and do according to all that the foreigner calls to you for; that all the peoples of the earth may know your name, and fear you, as does your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by your name.

"If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city which you have chosen, and the house which I have built for your name;